Network News

DAN adds MKTG to global brand network

19 October, 2015

Dentsu Aegis Network has announced the formation of a ninth global network brand—MKTG. The group has announced that Posterscope’s experiential arm, psLIVE’s offices across Europe and Asia Pacific, South Africa’s Crimson Room, Australia/New Zealand’s Apollo Nation and US-based sports and entertainment consultancy Team Epic will be realigned as part of MKTG over the next 12 months.

The lifestyle marketing agency was acquired by DAN in August 2014. The realigned agency, said DAN, will provide clients with an integrated through-the-line service offering including sports and entertainment consulting, experiential marketing, sponsorship identification, negotiation and activation, hospitality, strategy, research and insights, custom measurement, digital and creative capabilities, content development, design and retail marketing.

“As a network, we are constantly evolving to meet the demands of our clients, to be responsive to the needs and desires of consumers and to remain pioneering in the evolution of our industry,” said Jerry Buhlmann, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network and Executive Officer of Dentsu Inc. “The tremendous growth and importance of lifestyle marketing made it clear that strategically it was time to unify our like-minded businesses as one single brand. We are completely committed to building out our lifestyle marketing offering and integrating the combined strength of these services to deliver on a far larger and broader scale.”As the agencies transition towards operating as one global brand, MKTG will grow from 450 full time employees and 7,000 brand ambassadors in the United States, to nearly 1,000 full time employees in 14 countries. MKTG will be headquartered in New York City.

“Something that sets Dentsu Aegis Network apart is that we are constantly reevaluating our businesses and are willing to reorganize ourselves to best serve our clients; ultimately providing the best value we can,” said Annie Rickard, Global Brand President, Posterscope and Global Chairman, MKTG. “With this realignment, we can now provide a seamless offering across lifestyle, sports and entertainment for our clients and allow all of our agencies to benefit from this platform.”

Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia of Dentsu Aegis Network and Chairman Posterscope and psLIVE in Asia Pacific said, “In India, the lifestyle marketing solutions market is growing at twice the rate of the ATL market. With Fountainhead, a leading player in India and MKTG, a leading global player, we now will have the best offering of global standards, through Fountainhead MKTG, which will make us the best lifestyle marketing solutions agency in India. This is another big step forward in helping us achieve our mission of being the second largest agency group by end 2017 in India, overturning for the first time the existing ranking which has historically been in place for over 80 years in India.”